Page 14 of Burn for Me (The Last Snow of the Season 2)
When we're in and the door opens, Jag is stepping in front of Milly who is standing in nothing but a shirt that I think Jag was wearing this morning when I last saw him. "What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know but I intend to find out."
I allow the girls to go upstairs together while me and Jag compare notes about our mornings. Something seems fishy. Jag and Milly get stuck in a sauna while Rumer tells me she doesn't want anything else to do with me.
We pop in on the ladies after Jag cleans up and we feel like Milly has enough time to do the same with the girls. It doesn't take long before we find the perp. Rumer saw Tinsley close to Jag and Milly's room, too close considering her room is way the hell down on the other side of the house and both Milly and Jag thought the other wrote letters to meet in the sauna.
"That bitch!" Rani is livid.
"That's so dangerous. Doesn't she understand how dangerous that could be?" Rumer is just as pissed but there's something more. Something she's not telling me about her run-in with Tinsley. And I think it might be the root cause of her pushing me away. She mentioned something about having to worry more about graduation and finding a place to live. It's the last that worries me the most.
Charlie purposes after dinner over chocolate and wine. I don't want to act like a big pussy but even I have to admit, it was hella sweet. Not that it was a surprise for anyone who works with him. Rani is all Charlie talks about. Afterward, while everyone is watching a movie and Charlie and Rani are making out in the back, I meet up with Jag. Rumer is sitting with Milly and Trinity, so I don't worry too much but I intend to keep an eye on her anyway. Jag called that bitch Tinsley out for locking them in the sauna. She didn't admit doing it, but she cracked off a wise-ass retort to Milly trying to hurt her feelings, and my suspicion that she did the same to my girl only solidifies.
No one was sorry to see her miss the after-dinner events. "So what do you have?" I'm impatient.
"You first." Damn it. I finally break, knowing that the quicker I give Jag what he wants the faster I get what I want. I tell him everything I found out about Milly and hand over a folder with the information all written out like we would do a report. He hands me a matching one.
"She lives with her aunt and a couple of cousins. Her mom and dad are dead. By all accounts, she took their deaths hard." And we have a reason for her being stand-offish at times. She's trying to protect her soft inner core. "Rumer has it...," Jag stops, and we both see the humor in his choice of words. He chuckles and continues, "she's tripping because she doesn't think her aunt will let her stay with them after she graduates high school. It's not an unfounded worry according to some of the neighbors I managed to make contact with."
"Damn." Damn! I should have been aware of this right from the beginning. If it upsets Rumer I want to know about it - so I can deal with it. After both of us are done sharing what we found out about the other one's girl - that way they can't get mad at us for snooping - we start toward our women. Milly is out but she's had a traumatic day considering she could have been seriously hurt today. Rumer is up but I can tell she is getting tired.
Jag pulls me up short. "Milly is close to Rumer. She likes her." I think I realize where this is going. "What do you plan to do?"
"What do you plan to do?"
"Just trying to make sure, buddy." We're both going to take them home and never let them go.
